Costa Mesa agrees to explore feasibility of joining Orange County Power Authority

Costa Mesa has agreed to release data on the city’s electricity usage to the Orange County Power Authority, so the agency can determine whether the city might join a community choice energy program designed to bolster renewability and lower costs.

But some remain skeptical about the beleaguered joint powers authority which, since its formation in 2020, has lost two major members, experienced a turnover in leadership and drawn scrutiny over its contracting practices and the transparency of its operations.

OCPA Chief Executive Joe Mosca in a July 16 meeting of the Costa Mesa City Council pitched officials on the potential benefits of the program, which allows members to aggregate the electric loads of their public facilities, residents and businesses to facilitate the purchase and sale of energy.

The idea is that, by joining together and having member representatives serve on the Power Authority’s board, which is responsible for setting rates, members might realize a cost savings over for-profit utilities like Southern California Edison, which services Costa Mesa.

Although SCE would still be required by law to distribute the power, OCPA members would have flexibility to purchase more renewable energy and initiate and fund sustainability projects and programs, Mosca explained.

“Competition in the energy market is good. It drives more choices for the consumer,” he said. “[And] we’re not for profit … so we’re investing all of our revenue back into our communities.”

Accessing load data from SCE specific to Costa Mesa will help OCPA decide whether the city would be a good candidate for membership. If an invitation were to be extended and approved by the council, the city would select one council member to serve on the agency’s board and determine a renewable energy participation rate from among three options.

A basic choice option offers consumers 44% renewable energy, resulting in a 3% cost savings from Edison’s rates, based on the authority’s current pricing.

A smart choice plan offers 72% renewability and costs about one cent per kilowatt hour more than the basic option (a typical residential customer uses 425 kWh per month), while a 100% renewable plan is roughly 15 cents per kilowatt hour more than the basic choice.

If invited to join, the city would select a baseline plan, then ratepayers could opt out of the program entirely or pick a different rate scenario.

“Southern California Edison covers millions of customers. It is very difficult for them to tailor to individual communities. Representing three cities, we have a unique ability to basically tailor our programs to our customers,” Mosca said.

Council members emphasized the decision before them was simply about allowing the agency to conduct a feasibility study. Still, some expressed reservations about the fledgling organization’s troubled history.

Formed in 2020 with seed money contributed by Irvine, OCPA in 2022 began providing power to founding cities, which also included Huntington Beach, Fullerton and Buena Park. The county of Orange opted into the program in 2021, adding 120,000 or more residents from unincorporated areas to the grid.

The Huntington Beach City Council voted in May 2023 to withdraw from the agency, one month after OCPA’s then-Chief Executive Brian Probolsky was abruptly fired and replaced by Mosca, who’d been the agency’s communications director.

Orange County supervisors followed suit in December 2022, citing audits that raised questions about OCPA’s management, transparency and pricing. Councilman Don Harper brought up the departures.

“The substance of the decision you’re making, or would make in this instance, is how well the Orange County Power Authority buys and is run — that is what translates into the cost to the ratepayer,” he said, acknowledging his own professional background is in the fossil fuel industry. “It hasn’t executed well in the past, [according to] the things I’ve read.”

Councilman Loren Gameros said he, too, was doubtful about the benefits of membership.

“I’m extremely skeptical of this,” he said. “I don’t really have a vision on it, other than numbers on a paper. I’d really like to know what role is being played in bringing this energy into our community and how we arrive at those numbers.”

Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Harlan proposed moving forward with the release of the city’s load data but requested the city’s Finance & Pension Advisory Committee review the authority’s feasibility study once it’s released, a process anticipated to take around 18 weeks. The motion passed 5-1, with Harper opposed (Councilwoman Andrea Marr was absent).

Councilwoman Arlis Reynolds said she hoped the city would have environmental energy experts analyze the study’s findings. She noted that Costa Mesa was asked to become a founding member in 2020 but declined.

“We chose not to join because we were concerned about some of the leadership and lack of experience at the time,” Reynolds said, recognizing OCPA officials have since created a 10-point leadership plan. “I think it would be really helpful to show the difference between now [and] the past.”